Warm up from winter with homemade chili

By Donna Zitter BordelonJan. 16, 2014

Es­cape winter’s winter tem­per­at­ures by mak­ing your own chili.

North Amer­ica shivers in an Arc­tic freeze….bit­ing, bit­terly cold breezes….bru­tal, po­ten­tial, re­cord-break­ing low tem­per­at­ures….Po­lar Vor­tex– that arc­tic cyc­lone that’s swept down from the North Pole ….what’s next? Frost Quakes? They did hap­pen in Ontario, Canada, on Christ­mas Eve. Ap­par­ently, some kids there thought that the loud snap sounds and the shakes were reindeer on the roof. Closer to home, parts of Ohio ex­per­i­enced Frost Quakes in 2011. It’s winter!

So far, this has been one cold winter. It’s def­in­itely time to warm up. Leave Old Man Winter out­side to shoot the breeze with Jack Frost, and head to your kit­chen to make a pip­ing-hot pot of chili.

Chili re­cipes have taken on a life of their own, and there are as many chili re­cipes out there as there are chili-mak­ing con­tests. There’s beef chili, tur­key chili, ve­get­ari­an chili, white bean chili, black bean chili. Chili made with ba­con, beer, wine and chocol­ate. The pos­sib­il­it­ies seem end­less.

Al­though we think of chili as a Mex­ic­an dish, it is not of true Mex­ic­an ori­gin. Sup­posedly, chili was for­mu­lated in fron­ti­er times in what is now Texas, but what was then a province of the wild and woolly re­pub­lic to the south of the United States. Span­ish priests ser­mon­ized that chilies were evil aph­ro­dis­i­acs, and they called chili “The Soup of the Dev­il.” When the United States took over Texas, it took “chili” with it. Some Texas pris­ons made such good chili that former in­mates missed eat­ing it after they were re­leased.

Al­though Nat­ive Amer­ic­an and Mex­ic­an spices were the basis of the re­cipe, chili is con­sidered more of an Amer­ic­an con­coc­tion. Back in the day, some key in­gredi­ents that we use today may not have been handy. To­ma­toes were sea­son­al, and cow­boys couldn’t just open a can of beans. But they did use dried chilies – hot pep­pers to make the dish that was called a “Bowl of Red.”

When I make chili, I use a jalapeno pep­per. A word of cau­tion, if you have not used these pep­pers: Be care­ful not to touch your face or eyes when hand­ling and seed­ing them. Wash your hands af­ter­ward. They are power­ful little pep­pers.

-Serve with crusty bread or rolls and a green salad, or corn­bread would also be good.

In keep­ing with the spir­it of the Wild West, chili takes you home to your range. When our north winds start howl­ing and it’s get­ting chilly, find your home and the range and make a big pot of chili. Sel­dom is heard a dis­cour­aging word after a good chili din­ner, even if the skies have been cloudy all day.

With the gui­tar gently strum­ming in the back­ground, and the sun slowly set­ting, I’m on my way home to my range now.

Happy Trails to you and…

Eat well, live long, en­joy!

(Ques­tions or tips can be sent to Donna Zit­ter Bor­de­lon at Whats­cook­in­NEPhilly@gmail.com or in care of the North­east Times, 2512 Met­ro­pol­it­an Drive, Tre­vose, PA 19053.)